Last Monday found me yet again at Mayo, fourth floor surgery. I had Thyroplasty on my paralyzed vocal cord. This is my seventh procedure in less than two years. Seventh time in preop rooms with gowns, IVs, and wires. Seventh time meeting everyone responsible for something important in my operating room, repeating my name, birthdate, …
God’s ways are always good, but sometimes life throws us so many curve balls that our default is to duck or run at everything that comes around the corner. We brace for impact and just hope the catch doesn’t leave a mark. Instead of becoming more resilient and agile, life can make us more rigid …
Several Sundays ago in worship I heard an unmistakable voice. It was louder than a whisper, but only I could hear it. The message was short and sweet: “It’s time.” And I knew deep in my heart what it meant. It’s time to place my voice on the altar. Not to just lay it nicely …
Our church has been mobile for 11 years. We never meant to be a mobile church. It just happened out of necessity. We never meant to stay mobile so long either, we just couldn’t find anywhere else to go. We live in a continuously thriving city. It is wonderful in many ways, but it also …
My prayer for my children isn’t fame or fortune but that they’d know Jesus. All the wonderful things in this world and all the not so wonderful things will one day fail. Jesus is the only one that won’t. When Chris and I met, we were both fractured and burdened. It took years of breaking …
I just had a day that felt like it was a week long with an extended visit to the full rainbow of emotions. For 24 hours I was convinced that my body was unraveling, and the thought overwhelmed me beyond description. I had an inexperienced nurse throw out the tumor and cancer words on the …
I’ve been circling around the idea of perfection again this week. I turn at the corner but keep doubling back down the same road. I keep parking at the same curb, looking through the same window. God has been showing me so much as I look in. It is no surprise to this perfectionist; the …
I took a carload of girls to the beach today. One of them lost their goggles. There one minute and gone the next. We combed the shallows for some time and found only shells and fish. I sat in the water afterward looking out to the deep and musing. There is so much loss in …
Chris and I just took a visit to the historic city of Savannah. The artist I’ve most and longest admired was in concert there, so Chris kindly made the trip happen. She was my first mentor from afar. She never preached a sermon or taught a Bible study that I could follow with a study …
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). For so long my aim at a living sacrifice was perfecting what I could and laying down an offering as …